Point-to-point wiring, also known as flood wiring, is a well known method for connecting data signal lines from a patch panel directly to each end user located in a cubicle or at a workstation. Installation of the wiring requires skilled personnel to prepare the wires for hardwiring, which involves tedious tasks such as insulation removal, wire end dressing, identification of individual wires, and terminator attachment, for example. Once wired, the configuration is effectively fixed for a given office environment layout because the wiring is set to specific lengths for connecting each cubicle or workstation to the patch panel. Therefore, any change in the layout requires time consuming re-distribution and preparation of the wiring.
Zone wiring provides a high degree of flexibility for the installation of data signal lines in office environments over point-to-point wiring arrangements. Zone wiring is used for connecting cubicles or workstations of a floor to the patch panel via zone boxes. In particular, zone wiring is well suited to modern open office environments where cubicle or workstation layouts can dynamically change to suit the needs of the users.
FIG. 1 illustrates the generally existing zone wiring setup for connecting data signal lines to individual workstations or cubicles. The zone wiring system 50 includes a patch panel 52, zone boxes 54, workstation area 56, patch cable group 58 and zone cable group 60. Each workstation area 56 can include a networked computer 62, printer 64 and telephone 66. The patch panel 52 is the source of data for a predefined area, such as a floor, and distributes a number of data channels to each zone box 54 via respective patch cable group 58. Each zone box 54 distributes its received data channels to a respective workstation area 56 within a specific area via respective zone cable groups 60. Each patch cable group 58 and each zone cable group 60 includes a plurality of individual physical cables each adapted for carrying a data signal. Each such cable generally includes four twisted pair wires, shielding and an insulating sheath. The carried data signals can be computer network signals. Accordingly, a data channel includes a set of patch cables within patch cable group 58 or zone cables within zone cable group 60 for carrying all data signals for one user. It is readily understood by those skilled in the art that the patch cable group 58 and zone cable group 60 shown in FIG. 1 each include a set of individual, shielded cables respectively including 4 twisted pairs. Thus, zone box 54 receives a plurality of individual patch cables and workstation area 56 receives a plurality of individual zone cables. Each such cable must be installed separately on site, generally by pulling the cable through the installation space in a suspended ceiling or under a raised floor. This requires a large amount of installation time. Running many individual also cables requires a large amount of installation space and makes it tremendously difficult to trace a single cable in the installation space for fault/problem detection. Furthermore, once the ends of the cables are to be connected to a patch panel, zone box or wall outlet, the respective ends of each cable must be identified to ensure correct wiring. Wire stripping and end connection is done on site for each end of each cable, which is associated with significant installer time. Because each zone box receives a number of data channels from the patch panel, the corresponding patch cables are physically grouped together in a patch cable group 58 after placement in the installation space or routed to their respective zone boxes 54. In a similar manner, the individual zone cables corresponding to the same data channel can be physically grouped together and routed to their respective destination workstation areas 56. The segmented nature of the wiring between the patch panel 52 and each workstation area 56 of the zone wiring configuration allows for re-arrangement of workstation layout in a particular zone without modification to the patch wiring 58. In other words, only the zone wiring 60 of the affected zone needs to be modified.
Although zone wiring is easily adaptable to changes in the office layout with a minimal amount of effort, the wires still need to be prepared during their initial installation into the premises. Changes to an office layout after the initial installation may necessitate new wires to replace wires that are too short for the new layout. In both cases, skilled personnel are required on site to prepare the wires and correctly connect them to the appropriate cubicles. More specifically, the skilled person must identify wires belonging to a particular channel and identify specific types of data signal lines within the channel in order to install the appropriate wire terminals. The resulting group of patch wires for one zone box becomes a mass of wire terminals, such that the individual wire terminals belonging to different channels mesh together. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that connecting the wires of each channel to the corresponding connections in the patch panel or zone box is non-trivial, especially if all the terminals are similar in shape, resulting in potential erroneous connections. Hence the labour cost involved for connecting prior zone wiring systems is significant. Erroneous connections can also arise, requiring additional costs to correct.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a low cost wiring system that is simple to install while minimizing the possibility of erroneous connections.